SHIMMERING MIST : HATAKE SI (Naruto)

Part 34

Chapter 34

MIKOTO UCHIHA

The Uchiha clan matriarch walked down the stairs towards the basement hidden underneath the Naka Shrine, her heart pounding in her chest as she entered the ancient-looking tunnel, lit only by widely spaced fire lamps.

Fugaku had called her to come here. Before today, she had never heard of this secret entrance, and she had an inkling what this was all about.

She stepped down from the last stairs and saw him standing there in front of what seemed to be a sealed space. She walked up to him, her steps measured as he stood there looking at the sealed space infront of him.

Unlike the rest of the cave, this area had seals around it. Seals that she could barely understand yet seemed rather ancient. Four candles illuminated an ancient-looking stone tablet. Kanji had been inscribed into it, and though she could not be sure, she was sure that the tablet was very ancient.

Yet she could not make out the texts.

"This tablet's existence has been a secret that has been passed down from one clan leader to the next, ever since the inception of the clan," he began, and his words made her still as she realized that her earlier conjecture was right.

"I cannot read them," she remarked, and he nodded, until suddenly she felt a flare of chakra and looked up and saw his irises turn red as his eyes morphed into his Sharingan, which glew eerily in the light.

She closed her eyes and pushed chakra into her own eyes. She felt the cave clear up. The details became sharper, and then, as she looked at the stone tablet. The inscribed words finally began to make sense.

As she read over the tablet, she had known of parts of it, like the powers of the Mangekyo. Yet the rest was a shock to her, the power of eternal Mangekyo and the method of obtaining it, the secrets of their origin followed by the story origin of chakra.

"Many believe that it after reading this very tablet with his eyes that Madara Uchiha began to change, leaving the village he had built to pursue a dream of a more peaceful world" Fugaky answered.

"This tablet contains the secrets of our clan, secrets that have been passed down from one clan leader to the next, and today I called you here to do my duty as the current leader," he began as he looked towards her.

She stilled at his words as he lowered her gaze.

"So, it is true. You have been chosen to go with Tsunade-sama," she ventured. The Hokage was set to choose a special unit to go to Ame to confront this newly arisen Madara, or Ohashi, as they suspected.

"Yes, a team has been selected. And I am a part of it," he began, and she immediately tried to cut in.

"But I volunteered the fact that he came to rescue me, speaks that he may have at least some reca..." but she was cut short.

"We cannot take that risk, Mikoto. Tsunade-sama has decided to form a highly specialized team for this mission. She will be leading it herself, and the other two shinobi are Minato and Lord Orochimaru," he answered.

"Orochimaru-sama?" she questioned. Hadn't the man left the village to pursue his interest in medicine and some more obscure aspects of chakra and human physiology?

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru was nominated and has accepted this responsibility. We are set to leave in a week," he answered as he turned towards the tablet once again.

"I brought you here today to prepare you for the worst-case scenario. If I were to fall in battle, I want you to lead the clan as regent until he comes of age," he told her, and she had reasoned out as much.